December 31, 2009

Well, the data for the 2009 holiday season is in and our statistics person at TripCart reports some interesting trends in shopping mall visits. Of course, we don't know how many people actually went to these malls or if they spent money. Those stats may be released months from now and may send the stock market shooting up (or not).

But, we do know how many people are searching for shopping malls and ending up at TripCart and we can say that the 2009 holiday showed much stronger performance than 2008. We saw that trend starting around Thanksgiving.

For no apparent reason, these malls showed the best year over year growth on TripCart:

September 01, 2009

Well, its that time of the year again and for our readers in the right parts of the country - a compact vacation on a tank of gas. Sure, the fall festivals and quaint white church steeples make Vermont Fall Foliage a world-class destination, but, with the right timing (check out our friends at Foliage Network) and a warm sweater - you are ready to hit the parks and forests of the United States and watch the transition from Green to Yellow to Orange. (And we are not talking about the Terror Alert Status!).

Massachusetts Fall Foliage is a no brainer - early in the season - head north to New Hampshire, later follow the coast south - from Maine to Connecticut. Nearest to Boston - try Lexington, Concord and Walden Pond. To really see the fall colors in style, consider one of the many Fall Foliage cruises leaving from New England ports - Rhode Island up to Maine.

Each borough - Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens (Alley Pond Park - Leaves and Tashlich), Brooklyn and even Staten Island has good and accessible leaf peeping - just hop on the subway (or ferry). Feeling a bit more adventurous, but still no car? You can get a hour-long moving show of Hudson Valley Foliage from
the train (Metro North). Make sure to get a seat on the left side of the train going north or the right going south. Skip rush hour for better fares and less cellphone chatter.

Global warming or not, the leaves change later as you go south. If you'd like to combine some foliage viewing with an urban weekend and maybe take in a show or get tickets for a football game - pick a different city each weekend from Boston down to Washington DC. Philadelphia is a good place for your Fall Foliage PA headquarters and a drive up the Potomac is a great way to see the Maryland Fall Foliage 30 minutes out of the Capital.

Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Mountains lose their crowds and turn yellow, gold and red in the fall and late October is a good time to close out the West Virginia fall foliage season.And for the 3 people a year who search for "Pittsburgh fall foliage" - we have two pointers - Grandview Avenue and Fallingwater.

For our fans out west:

Its a different experience, the Colorado fall colors, the wild-west towns, the snow covered peaks (and sometimes even, the snow) and the mix of evergreens and aspens. Fall Foliage in Colorado can be less than an hour outside of Denver - try Georgetown, or a bit further, Estes Park.

Further south, you can even find some decent New Mexico fall foliage spots near Albuquerque, Santa Fe and in the Four Corners region of the state.

And what would a back to school season trip be without visiting the shopping malls?

July 12, 2009

As a tribute to Michael Jackson, we dug through the web to list some significant Michael Jackson concert venues in the United States. His last concert as part of a world tour in the United States was on January 27, 1989 (20 YEARS AGO!) in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, not far at all from Staples Center.

March 04, 2009

While half of the United States is buried in snow, Southwest airlines has decided to help out TripCart and cheer up the freezing citizens of the east coast by kicking off Beach Season. They even went to the trouble of painting a plane that will inspire people to plan their beach vacation on TripCart.
You should not have trouble spotting this plane, pictured above but for the die-hard aviation nuts out there, the plane can be identified by the FAA Registration number on the tail of the 737-7H4 model, which is:

January 22, 2009

We figured that if a website was serious enough to recommend TripCart,
they probably have other good links, so we decided to share them with
our readers.

Mashable
has written about us in the past, now they put us on a list of 100+
More Ways to Organize Your Life. Personally, we feel traveling is more exciting then organizing, but if you are going on a trip - a little organization can certainly help.

Thrillist gave us a real compliment by describing us as having an obsessive, type-A and a father figure type persona. We accept the compliment and agree that's what you need to plan a trip. And, yes, we are a group of obsessive developers and managers. Asylum concurs and has a few hints of their own.

Smart Honeymoon seems to have a different view of TripCart. I guess they have a different audience.

October 02, 2008

For the urban and eco-conscious types who don't own cars and don't want cars and don't want to park cars and don't want to feed cars and don't want to bathe cars - this post is for you (and we bet you live in NY, Boston or SF).

ZipCar pioneered the concept of renting a car for a few hours to visit friends on the island or for an interview in the valley or for the fall drive to Concord or for NY Fall Foliage. Walk over to where the car is parked, swipe the card and the car is yours, all gassed up. Drive back and the spot is waiting for you.

It turns out that the "gas included" feature really got people excited in the $4 gas age. SO, the big guys have noticed and are going for the same model. Recently (as described in the Boston Globe and summed up in this blog)U-Haul and Hertz are doing something similar. It looks like they are still trying to figure out what ZipCar already did, and ZipCar is more "green" using hybrid cars - but the fact that these guys are in means this is going mainstream. Great news for all of us and for the trees. Denver readers - this weekend begins the peak for Colorado Fall Colors.

September 05, 2008

Usually, the folks at TripCart don't get involved with politics, but we have to take a stand this time. A generation from now, people will be traveling to visit the home of Sarah Palin or the Obama Presidential Library or visa versa. And that would mean a trip to Alaska or Hawaii. Both are good. Lets compare:

Sarah Palin lives in Wasilla, Alaska - kind of close to Anchorage.Barack Obama was born in Honolulu.

Its a tough call, so lets let the "chad-punching" citizens of Florida decide. If you lived in West Palm beach - where would you rather go - Honolulu or Wasilla?

Beaches - neither. South Beach in Miami is just fine, thanks.Flights - checked on Orbitz and RT Miami to Anchorage is $1000, to Honolulu $1038. Both are one stop.Skiing - Palin wins - Alpenglow is about 45 minutes away.Shopping - Obama wins with the Ala Moana Mall. Obama wins again with the choice of kitschy souvenir. Pineapple and Hula skirt beats Moose paraphanalia.Crowds - Palin wins. Unless you like them - then Obama wins.

I give up - we can just let the supreme court decide (in my next post)

September 02, 2008

Doing a Google search for "Fall Foliage" gives you the word "Vermont" a lot. At TripCart, we would all like a nice weekend off to enjoy the Vermont Fall Foliage, but realize that not all our readers want to fill up the tank to drive to Vermont from, say, South Carolina. So, in the spirit of 2008 Staycations, our research team came up with these options, closer to home, and some even by public transportation:

Jerry, Elaine, George and even Kramer could do it, so could you. Head out in October for some Long Island Fall Foliage and some mansions and maybe relatives.

From Philadelphia:

Take a ride on the Reading. The Reading and Northern Railroad Company near Allentown. Closer to Philadelphia - the West Chester Railroad runs historic and scenic trips for viewing Pennsylvania Fall Foliage

From Pittsburgh:

Have lunch at Mt. Washington's Grandview Avenue and enjoy the view - its urban and its beautiful.

June 06, 2008

Donald Trump and Steven Carl (a caterer) are proposing a restaurant/banquet hall to develop at Jones Beach. Diane Yatauro, Nassau County’s presiding officer backs Trump in this fiasco, so that’s another strong point for Trump and Co.

Newsday quotes Trump: "As a New Yorker with an eye on historical significance, I am pleased to be a part of the history of Jones Beach."

It’s not that I’m against Trump or against building a nice banquet hall on Jones Beach, it’s this particular model which I find distasteful and gaudy.

Thanx newsday.com

I guess I’m not the only one who feels that way. The Newsday article continues: “In addition to surprise over the dimensions of Trump's moniker, "it doesn't look like the materials that we outlined or have agreed to."”

And the defense?: "This is solely, 100-percent, down to the square foot, what was approved earlier this year in the blueprints -- they just haven't seen the 3-D visualization of it," insisted Michael Russo, who has managed the project for the architectural firm of Hawkins Webb Jaeger.

Other ridiculous monstrosities in the area bearing the Trump family name include: